Riverfront Development Takes Hit

Riverfront Development Takes Hit

Article excerpt

The Gateway Casino group says it probably can't deliver all of
the $210 million development package it promised for the St. Louis
riverfront unless Missouri voters change their minds about
riverfront gambling.

The Gateway group, a partnership of Caesars World Inc. and
Casino Magic Corp., emerged from a competition with five other
groups in January as front-runner for a lease to put gambling boats
at Laclede's Landing.

As part of the competition, Gateway proposed some land
developments including:

A 976-room convention hotel.

A 1,340-car parking garage.

An elevated, enclosed moving sidewalk to link the floating
casinos, a floating entertainment center, the hotel and the
Cervantes Convention Center.

Jack Leone, a spokesman at Caesar's World in Los Angeles, said
that when Missouri voters spoke Tuesday, they put a big crimp in
Gateway's original proposal.

"Our presentation to the city was predicated on having a full
casino gambling operation," he said. "But now, the whole situation
has changed.

"It is not likely we could do our original proposal" unless
unrestricted gambling is allowed, Leone said, "so we will have to
re-evaluate everything, including the hotel."

Mary Jost, a spokeswoman for the group in St. Louis, said
Gateway is still negotiating the lease with the city of St. Louis,
without having decided if it would open a boat with restricted
gambling. "We would make that decision later," she said.

St. Louis development officials had been counting on revenue
from Gateway and gambling boats elsewhere on the riverfront to help
pay for an extensive riverfront development plan finished just last
month.

The plan, which could cost as much as $250 million, would
dramatically expand the riverfront to accommodate gamblers,
convention-goers, tourists and residents alike.

Included among the many proposed attractions and improvements
are an aquarium, more parks, a marina, outdoor amphitheater, and a
two-level promenade running the length of the riverfront, from
Chouteau's Landing northward to Riverside, just north of Laclede's
Landing. …